Production of sound ingots



May 30, 1933. A. e. EGLER PRODUCTION OF SOUND INGOTS Filed April 17, 1931 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 gwve-nkoz A. 0.5326,

May 30, 1933. A. G. EGLER PRODUCTION OF SOUND INGOTS Filed April 17, 1931 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 May 30, 1933. G, EGLER 1,911,270

PRODUCTION OF SOUND INGOTS Filed April 17, 1931 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 gwoantoz A filyler Patented May 30, 1933 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE PRODUCTION OF SOUND INGOTS Application filed April 17, 1931, Serial No. 530,984, and in Great Britain December 21, 1928.

My invention relates to the production of sound ingots and has particularly in view the production of a steel ingot that will be substantially free from blow holes and slag inclusions.

One of the objects of the invention is to provide suitable and practical means for accomplishing the desired result.

The ingot is produced by jarring the metal in the mold from the beginning of pouring and continuing while the metal is molten and until the desired results are obtained. To secure the best results, the metal is subjected to jarring in a vertical direction and at such a regulated velocity as will cause separation of the non-metallic inclusions and avoid splashing of the metal in the mold.

This application is a continuation in part of my applications: Ser. No. 243,679 filed December 30, 1927 Ser. No. 275,637 filed May 7, 1928 Ser. No. 297,732 filed August 6, 1928 Ser. No. 339,652 filed February 13, 1929 It has been proposed heretofore to produce sound ingots by jarring the metal in the mold but none of these have ever gone into commercial use. This has been due to the absence of a number of features embodied in my invention, whereby I am enabled to commercially produce sound ingots. The most important of these include, the step of arring the metal from the beginning of pouring, rather than from such time as when there is a certain quantity of metal in the mold; utilizing a regulated falling and rising jar so as not to splash the metal in the mold nor bounce the mold on the stool; and utilization to a large extent of conventional pouring practice and equipment not necessitating a radical change in the type of equipment employed.

Obviously it is desirable to obtain sound ingots substantially free from inclusions and blow holes Without radically changing the equipment now in use in the various steel works, Whether adapted to cast ingots on cars, in pits. on floor set-ups, regular or inverted, and with or without hot tops.

It is not convenient nor desirable to anchor 00 molds to stools, therefore it is important that such jarring as is necessary to obtain the desired ingot should be at such a velocity as to make sure that the mold will not bounce upon the stool, and thus allow the metal to seep between the mold and the stool. The jarring should be done at such a velocity and in such a plane so that the metal does not splash upon the sides of the molds and so tend to cause scabb surface on in ots.

The jarring is most e ective when the fluidity of the metal and its depth facilitates the separation of the gases and the nonmetallic inclusions, due to their buoyancy or low specific gravity. By jarring from the beginning of pouring, the non-metallic inclusions are promptly brought to the top and are readily kept there or near there throughout the pouring operation, so that thereafter they are readily eliminated.

Due to the great difi'erence in the specific gravities of the metal and the non-metallic inclusions, a jarring action, with a velocity which does not cause the steel to splash upon the sides of the mold, is sufiicient to cause the ebullition or agitation in the steel necessary to free the non-metallic inclusions.

The ingots should be jarred with a vertical, heavy, sluggish blow in both the rising and falling motions. The down jar if at low velocity does not cause the steel to bounce to a detrimental height, but the non-metallic inclusions do increase their buoyancy relatively and rise promptly. The up-jar produces a quivering or trembling effect in the body of metal due to the friction between the platform and the cam with the very heavy loads involved. This trembling or quivering effect, that is very noticeable on the upjar, seems to release the gases from the body of molten metal. The direction of the jarring force is preferably vertical to insure the operation against splashing of metal against the sides of the molds.

The jarring should begin with the first drop of steel and continue uninterrupted, if possible, to take every possible advantage of the temperature and fluidity of the steel and until the desired results are obtained.

After complete solidification of the metal, the jarring should be Stopped, because any further jarring increases piping in the ingot.

In addition to the increased density of the ingot, caused by the elimination of non-metallic inclusions and gases, there is an apparent further density obtained by the different molecular construction.

When steel is poured into molds in the regular way, the bottom and corners are most rapidly chilled by contact with the molds and stools because of the relatively larger mass of the cold mold or stool which is brought into contact with a relatively small area of ingot face. The sides of the ingots present a much larger area in contact with the lesser mass of the cold molds, hence the ingots made in the regular way show black bottoms and corners and red center panels. For example, if a foot or so of metal is poured into the mold before the jarring action commences, the bottom and corners of that portion which was present before jarring are chilled promptly and the sides also to a lesser extent.

As the pouring continues, the jarring action forces the upper part of the ingot while it is in the rocess of solidifying into this lower thin s inned box and the shell of the ingot when shipped will be cracked at the bottom and at the corners. When the steel is shaken from the start, the metal is all in motion or agitation and a more uniform temperature is held in all the steel so that the skin is slowly formed by the more gradual reduction of the temperature of the steel near the mold.

One of the means that is now utilized in steel mills for producing ingots comprises a train of cars, carrying ingot molds, supported on stools, suflicient for a full furnace heat. This train is drawn up along side of the pouring platform where it remains while the entire heat is being poured. If the stool, or the car on which the stool rests, or the track on which the car runs, is repeatedly jarred from the beginning of pouring and while the metal in the mold is molten, then the metal will gradually settle down in the mold and the ingot on solidification will be solid, as desired.

The jarring platform should be designed to jar the ingots from about 15 to 30 rising and falling jars per minute respectively, with a rise and fall of about one half inch. The speed of jarring will vary with the size and character of the ingot, the large ingots being jarred more slowly than the small ones.

Referring to the drawings for a more complete disclosure of the invention,

Fig. 1 is a plan view of an open hearth steel plant showing the location of a jarring platform,

Fig. 2 is a vertical section on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1,

Fig. 3 is a plan view of a portion of the platform,

Fig. 4 is a section on the line 4-4 of Fig. 3,

Fig. 5 is a section on the line 55 of Fig. 3,

Fig. 6 is a vertical transverse fragmentary section of the jarring platform,

Fig. 7 is a detail section showing the guide for steadying the platform,

Fig. 8 shows the preferred shape of double pointed cam,

Fig. 9 shows a triple pointed cam, and

Fig. 10 shows a single pointed cam.

In the usual open hearth plant for the manufacture of steel, the open hearth furnaces 10 are located at an elevation and along one side of the pit 11. On the other side ofthe pit are located the pouring platforms 12. The pouring tracks 13 run along side of the pouring platforms. \Vhen a heat is ready to be poured, the train of ingot cars are drawn up along side of the pouring platform 12, on to the stationary tracks 13. The operator standing on the pouring platform operates the ladle stopper to let the metal run into thd molds, one after the other until the heat is all poured.

In my invention, instead of having sta' tionary tracks 13 along side of the pouring platform 12, I carry this portion of the track upon a platform designed to be jarred while the metal is being poured and in a molten condition. The ingot cars 15 are of the conventional type and the usual number form a train. The whole train may be carried by the jarring platform on which are mounted rails 16, and on which rails the car wheels 18 rest during the jarring. The molds 17 are for the conventional large bottom ingots and are supported on the conventional stools 19.

The jarring platform frame is preferably made of rolled steel girders or I-beams 20, extending longitudinally of the platform and spaced cross frames 21 riveted to the main girders and extending transversely of the platform. ()n the frame, a suitable deck 14 is supported. The jarring platform as thus constructed will have the rigidity necessary to distribute the load to the several points of support which are the jarring elements. The girders 20 are spaced apart a distance equal to that of the standard track gauge so that the track rails 16 will be directly over and reinforced by the girders 20.

The jarring platform is divided up into a number of sections 24, 25, 26 and 27. Each section is long enough to hold two cars 15, the four sections holding the usual train of eight cars. In use, the coupling 28 between the cars is located directly over the meeting point of the separate sections. There is a separate power unit for each section so that they can be jarred independently of each other. The rise and fall of each section is about one half of an inch and there is suflicient play in the couplings between the cars to permit the arr1ng of any section without having to nneouple the ca rs.

- larger gear 36. Keyed on the same shaft as the gear 36 is a small spur gear 37 which meshes with the spur ear 38 keyed on one of the cam shafts 30 and meshing with a similar size gear 39 of the same number of teeth keyed on the other parallel cam shaft 30. With this arrangement of speed reducing gears, the cams 29 will rotate at the same speed and synchronously. Each sect1on of the jarring platform is accordingly provlded with two pairs of arring cams located directly under the supporting tracks 16 for the ingot car.

On account of the very heavy loads that must be jarred, the friction should be reduced as much as possible and with this end in view the under side of the jarring platform is provided with anti-friction rol ers 40 spaced apart longitudinally of the platform so as to properly distribute the load, and provided with stub shafts 41 rotating in bearings 42 secured to the under side of theplatform.

For guiding the platform in its up and down movement, I provide alinement boxes 43. On each side of the platform are mounted rollers 44 which engage with the said boxes 43 through the medium of adjustable shims 45 that may be provided for securing the desired adjustment and taking up the wear.

The jarring elements 29 have a periphery of such a shape so as to conserve power, and impart the desired lifting as well as falling jar to the platform. In the preferred form shown in Fig. 8, the jarring elements 29 have cam shaped projections 46 at diametrically opposite sides, which abruptly raise and drop the platform twice for each complete revolution of the jarring elements. The jarring element is formed so that the distance '0; between the arrows is about one half an inch, which represents the rise and fall of the rollers 40 and the jarring platform. The lines y are tangent to the circle 2 as shown at somewhat less than 90 apart, the point a being rounded off where the tangent lines intersect. A jarring element of this design will so regulate the velocity as to produce the desired heavy sluggish blow in both the rising and falling motions. In order to reduce friction, the construction of the jarring elements is such as to provide a clearance of about one eighth of an inch between the circular portions of the jarring elements and the rollers 40; that is to say the rollers are held out of contact with the jarring elements except when they are in contact with the cam shape portions. This end is attained by l miting the downward movement of the jarring platform and hence the rollers through the medium of the bumping blocks 47 carried by the foundation which engage with the platform under the cross girders 21.

The lifting points on the three point cam shown in Fig. 9 and the one point cam shown in Fig. 10 are the same design and produce the same action as with the two point cam.

Fly wheels 48 may be provided to secure the necessary movement and the gears may be provided with cases 49.

When the train of cars with the empty ingot molds is in position on the jarring platform, and the steel ladle is in place to pour the heat, the motor 33 is started and the jarring is started with the'beginning of pouring and continued throughout the pouring of the metal at the desired rate and for the necessary period of time. Any one or all of the sections can be operated independently as desired. The train of cars is then removed as usual to the ingot stripper and stripped in the usual way.

I am aware that my invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essentialattributes thereof, and I therefore desire the present embodiment to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive; reference being had to the appended claims rather than to the foregoing description to indicate the scope of the invention.

What I claim is:

1. The method of Bproducing sound steel ingots utilizing the conventional steel mill casting equipment comprising the pouring platform, the cars carrying ingot molds and the tracks upon which the cars run; the improvement consisting in drawing the cars carrying the ingot molds upon a su porting platform, designed to be jarre and alongside of the pouring platform, and repeatedly jarring the said supporting platform while the steel is being poured.

2. The method of producing sound steel ingots utilizing the conventional steelv mill casting equipment comprising the pouring platform, the cars carrying ingot molds and the tracks upon which the cars run; the improvement consisting in carrying the portions of the tracks, which are alongside of the pouring platform, upon a supporting platform, designed to be jarred, and jarring the said supporting platform with the cars upon the tracks while the steel is being poured.

3. Means for producing sound steel ingots utilizing the conventional steel mill castlng equipment comprising the pouring platform, the cars carrying ingot molds, and the tracks upon which the cars run; the improvement comprising a jarring platform located alongside of the pouring platform and carrying a portion of the tracks and means for jarring the 'arring platform with the cars upon the trac s during the pouring of the metal in the molds.

4. Means for producing sound steel ingots utilizing the conventional steel mill casting equipment and comprising the train of cars carrying ingot molds sufficient for a full furnace heat; the tracks upon which the cars run and the pouring platform; the improvement comprising a jarring platform, carrying portions of the tracks, alongside of the pouring platform and of suflicient length to hold the whole train of cars and means for repeatedly jarrin the jarring platform during the pouring o the metal in the molds and while the cars are on the tracks.

5. Means for producing sound ingots comprising a car mountedon wheels and carrying an ingot mold, tracks upon which the car wheels run, a jarring platform carrying a section of the tracks and means for jarring the jarring platform with the car wheels upon the said section of tracks during the pouring of the metal in the mold.

6. A jarring apparatus for the production of sound ingots comprising a platform, a frame for the platform comprising longitudinal girders, rails for cars secured to the platform and directly overlying longitudinal girders, and jarring elements for the platform underlying longitudinal girders and means for operating the jarring elements to jar the platform.

7. A jarring platform for the production of sound ingots comprising a plurality of jarring sections, track rails on the jarring sections adapted to support a train of cars carrying ingot molds, each section when in use entirely supporting one or more cars and means for independently subjecting each jarring section to the same regular jarring movement.

8. A jarring platform for the production of sound ingots comprising a plurality of jarring sections, each provided with a section of track, and together being of sufficient length to hold a train of cars carrying ingot molds, each section of the platform when in use entirely supporting one or more cars, and means for independently jarring each section of track.

9. A jarring platform for" the production of sound ingots comprising a plurality of jarring sections, track rails on the jarring scctions adapted to support a train of cars carrying ingot molds, the said cars being coupled together. each section when in use en tirely supporting one or more cars. and means for independently jarring each section, the rise and fall of each section being less than the play in the car couplings, to thereby permit independent jarring of any section while the cars are coupled together.

10. Apparatus for casting steel ingots and the like comprising a series of platforms each long enough to hold a single mold car, means for centering said platforms permitting vertical movement thereof, cam means for lifting each platform independently of the others, and independent motors for operating each lifting means.

11. Apparatus for casting steel ingots and the like comprising a mold platform mounted for slight up and down movement, track rails supported thereon adapted to receive a mold car, cross bolsters under said platform, rollers carried by the ends of said bolsters, and cams cooperating with said rollers to lift and drop said platform, said cams being rotatable in unison.

12. Apparatus for casting steel ingots and the like comprising a platform, track rails supported thereon adapted to receive a mold car, means for supporting said platform including longitudinal girders beneath said track rails, cross frame members beneath and secured to said girders, said cross frame members having roller journal bearings near their ends, rollers journalled in said bearings, and rotatable cams below and adapted to engage said rollers and lift said platform periodically.

13. A jarring platform for the production of sound ingots comprising a plurality of jarring sections of sufficient length to hold a train of cars carrying ingot molds, each section in use entirely supporting one or more ca rs and means for independently jarring each section of the jarring platform.

14. Apparatus for casting steel ingots and the like comprising a platform, track rails supported thereon adapted to receive a mold ear. means for supporting said platform including longitudinal girders beneath said track rails, elements beneath and secured to said girders, said elements being provided with cam engaging means and rotatable cams below and adapted to engage said means and lift said platform periodically.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

ANDREW G. EGLER. 

